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Scrummastering: 3 ways to create room for team’s improvement

Something I have learned within the years that I have been practicing Agile, is the importance of installing/building a continuous improvement mindset. People and organizations willing to try new things, learn by experimenting and take actions to improve.
Why even consider it and under which circumstances?
Today’s world is faster than ever, markets are volatile and conditions are changing constantly. In a context like it, people and businesses might need to learn different ways to keep changing, adapting, and living in a continuous improvement mindset that would enable us to thrive.
How do you do that?#1.Assess current situation.
I use to inviting ScrumMasters to take time to observe everything within and in relationship with their system. I mean, team members, stakeholders, managers and organizational stuff that might be part of the system to keep it working.
In addition, I ask them to pick their favorite tool to assess with the team, where they are in their journey. To be honest, it doesn’t matter which tool you pick, what matters is the conversation that would arise from it and how the team turns the outcome of those conversations into action.
It would also serve as starting point for the team and help you (ScrumMaster) build a continuous improving plan around it and support their journey base on what they need.
I strongly suggest you to validate with management first, what they are expecting from the team to be in the near future (it could be within 3, 6 or 12 months), and be sure that those expectations are shared, discussed and negociated with the team before launching any assessment.
#2. Share insights with all parties.
I like to make my own assessment out of the team’s state, and then share views with all parties. The intention behind would be to invite people to see other perspectives that could create space to discuss about potential areas of improvement.
#3. Reflect and learn from it.
Once 1 and 2 have completed, I invite teams and all parties, to reflect upon what would be an ideal future for the team, within the context, that would make sense to achieve all together, and from there I help them define a target condition that would be achievable within 3 months, iteratiom by iteration, one change at a time.
I take time also, to learn from the experience by asking to get feedback about my interventions during the whole process and how it helped or not the team to keep moving along towards its goals.
Trans-forming though of the week
As you might have seen, changing takes time, clarity, engagement and trust. What would it take you to help your teams understand that improvement happens over time? What would you do to create that momentum and be pacient to let things flow naturally?
Now is your turn to take action
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